Stock feeding machine

Abstract

A feeding mechanism in which a reciprocating swab-like apparatus is provided wherein the pitmans are adjustable for beginning and ending their stroke by having the cranks driven by separable gears which may be meshed in different positions and wherein the pitmans are connected to a pair of counterrotatable wheels with friction facings engageable with paper sheets disposed in a stack therebeneath, the wheels being mounted on axes which are adapted to be canted to increase or reduce the area of engagement of the wheel periphery with the sheet to vary the amount of drag. The wheels are carried by a slider foot which is arranged to slide upon the sheet being moved. The wheels are arranged to move the sheet to be fed first into a registered position against a stop and then in the opposite direction to associated receiving mechanism.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A feeding mechanism having a stack support means for supporting a stack of paper sheets having leading and trailing ends, register means at one end of said stack support means for engagement with the trailing ends of said sheets,   and means for peeling the sheets of paper in the stack one by one from the top by sliding the top sheet into abutment with its trailing end against said register means and then sliding the same top sheet in the direction of its leading end into associated mechanism, and said peeling means comprising a pair of elastomeric wheels one rotatable in one direction toward the leading end of the sheet and the other in the reverse direction on the top sheet and operative as swabs.   
     
     
       2. The invention according to claim 1 and said support means comprising an inclined tray having lower and upper ends and said register means being disposed at said lower end and afoot on said peeling means slidable on the top sheet and operative to support said peeling means in preset pressing relationship with respect to said top sheet. 
     
     
       3. The invention according to claim 1 and pitman drive means for reciprocating said peeling means. 
     
     
       4. The invention according to claim 3 and means for adjusting the stroke phase of said pitman means for registering the same for delivering a sheet in phase with the conveying means. 
     
     
       5. The invention according to claim 4 and said support means comprising a tray having a pair of side walls having upper edges, and said pitman means comprising a crosshead and guide wheels journaled on said crosshead and tracking on the upper edges of said side walls of the tray. 
     
     
       6. A feeding mechanism for delivering in a predetermined path from a stack of papers individual sheets from the top thereof, a tray supporting said stack,   conveying means disposed in receiving relation to said papers in the tray, means providing a registry stop against which each sheet is initially moved and from which to begin its feeding movement,   means for swabbing each top sheet toward said registry stop to registry position for engagement of the trailing edge of the sheet to take up any excess motion of the swabbing means toward said stop,   said swabbing means operative thereafter to swab against the registered top sheet in said feeding direction and move it into said conveying means,   and said swabbing means comprising a crank and pitman drive including meshing driving and driven gears, means mounting said gears for movement between engaged and disengaged positions respectively coupling and uncoupling said gears for phasing the stroke of the pitman in phase with said conveying means.   
     
     
       7. In a metering device for delivering the top sheet from a stack of paper in a predetermined timed sequence to associated receiving means comprising: an inclined tray having upper and lower ends and a bottom for supporting said stack with each sheet having a trailing end at the lower end of the tray and a leading end at the upper end of the tray,   a registry stop at the lower end of the tray for engagement with the trailing ends of the sheets,   means reciprocal over the top sheet between the ends thereof and including means for moving the top sheet initially into contact with its trailing end against said register stop and then in the opposite direction into said receiving means,   and said moving means comprising a pair of elements for dragging the paper,   and said elements comprising a pair of individually rotatable wheels with paper-engaging means thereon, one way clutch means mounting each wheel, and operative to restrict rotation of one wheel in one direction only and the other wheel in the opposite direction only as said wheels are reciprocated on said top sheet.   
     
     
       8. The invention according to claim 7 and said reciprocal means comprising a pair of cranks and pitmans connected to respective cranks, and means mounting the wheels from at least one pitman. 
     
     
       9. The invention according to claim 8 and said mounting means comprising means for adjusting the position of the wheels about axes transverse to their axes of rotation to positions generally parallel to the sheet engaged thereby and at selected angles thereto to vary the angular peripheral relation of the wheels to the sheet engaged thereby. 
     
     
       10. The invention according to claim 9 and said wheels each comprising a body of elastomeric material and said body being segmented into a plurality of flexible paper-engaging radial fingers. 
     
     
       11. In a metering device for delivering the top sheet from a stack of paper in predetermined timed sequence to associated receiving means comprising: an inclined tray having upper and lower ends and a bottom for supporting said stack with each sheet having a trailing end at the lower end of the tray and a leading end at the upper end of the tray,   a registry stop at the lower end of the tray for engagement with the trailing ends of the sheets,   means reciprocal over the top sheet between the ends thereof and including means for moving the top sheet initially into contact with its trailing end against said registry stop and then in the opposite direction into said receiving means, and said moving means comprising a pair of elements for dragging the paper, and said receiving means comprising a conveyor including infeed rollers, and control means for actuating said rollers and said reciprocating means attendant to the passage of a sheet through said receiving means.   
     
     
       12. The invention according to claim 11 and said control means comprising an electric eye in the path of travel of said sheets of paper and a slave one way clutch for driving said receiving means. 
     
     
       13. In a metering device for delivering the top sheet from a stack of paper in a predetermined timed sequence to associated receiving means comprising: an inclined tray having upper and lower ends and a bottom for supporting said stack with each sheet having a trailing end at the lower end of the tray and a leading end at the upper end of the tray,   a registry stop at the lowr end of the tray for engagement with the trailing ends of the sheets,   means reciprocal over the top sheet between said ends thereof and including means for moving the top sheet initially into contact with its trailing end against said registry stop and then in the opposite direction into said receiving means, and means for driving said reciprocal means including pairs of meshing gear means and parallel shafts mounting the same, and means for coupling and uncoupling said gear means including saddle members journalling the shaft of one of the pair of gear means on the shaft of the other pair of gear means and being separable from the other by lifting the shaft with said saddle members and said one pair of gear means.